Teaching has been reported to be one of the most stressful professions in the UK (HSE, 2000). There is vast international literature that has documented for many years the negative implications that stress and burnout can have on educators’ health and well being and the wider systems and individuals’ connected to their work. The research also clearly documents that the development of school support systems can mediate the negative effects of stress for educators (Zellars & Perrewe, 2001). Given that teachers are one of the UK’s largest groups of public sector employees (Bowers, 2001) and that the education system is once more in a period of rapid change, it makes this piece of research timely in the current context of education policy and practice. This study calls for policy makers to recognise that stress in the education system is becoming an increasingly worrying trend and one that with the right kind of support systems in place could be alleviated in the future. Focus of thesis Two papers form this thesis. A flexible design consistent with an interpretive approach and a social constructionist philosophy has been adopted. Epistemology Social Constructionism Theoretical Perspective Interpretivism Paper One Paper Two Methodology Methodology Illuminative enquiry Action Research Methods Methods Semi-structured interviews Focus group Focus group Open questionnaires The purpose of paper one was to generate new understandings and gain insights into participants’ experiences regarding school staff stress, school support systems and the implications of this. The findings from the first paper informed my second paper. In paper two I worked with school staff to develop and evaluate a support-based intervention in order to address the gaps in support that staff identified in the first paper. This thesis was conducted in a large secondary community college, with a specialist subject status. This was located in a unitary authority in the South West of England. All participants that took part in this research were employed as teachers, support staff and/or members of middle or senior management team at the school. Paper one findings The findings in this study showed school systems to be complex environments, affected greatly by a range of internal and external factors. Participants’ experiences indicated that stress and burnout are a function of the quality of work life in the education system for many, with negative implications associated with those closely connected to them and the education system. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in this area by drawing participants from across the school meso system, as opposed from one part of the system, ensuring that all those working at different levels within the school were represented. A key issue uncovered by this study and adding to the existing literature in the field is the hierarchical nature of schooling. This hierarchy served to maintain the causes of stress experienced by my participants. These causes were systemic in nature as the issues raised were common across my participants and originated from the way the school system was organised and operated. The implication of this is that the focus of support needs to be aimed at adapting the school environment to reduce the main areas of stress faced by teachers and support staff and helping teachers to deal more positively with the stress factors within the environments and systems in which they work. The evidence also showed that my participants had a limited knowledge of the wider roles of the EPS and this may be significant area for the local authority in which this research was conducted to focus on in the future. This paper’s contribution is timely given the current context of education policy and practice Paper two findings The focus of this paper was developing and evaluating, in collaboration with participants, a staff support-based intervention. The staff’s support intervention of choice was a series of short training workshops focused on developing a better understanding of stress, promoting EHWB, assertiveness and methods of support. There were four stages to the creation of the intervention: Development of the intervention (through a focus group and the collaboration of school staff); Recruitment of participants (conducted through the senior management team through emails and staff reminders); Implementation of the intervention (five one hour, after-school workshops, using a range of teaching strategies, including practical skills; Outcomes (gained through an open pre and post training questionnaire which considered the practical strategies the participants had adopted from the workshop and applied to their practice). Despite working with staff including teachers, non teachers and senior staff to design the intervention, attendance at the after-school training workshops was poor, with only five members of the school’s support and special needs team attending. There were no teachers or members of the senior management team present. However those staff that did attend the training intervention provided positive feedback and found it useful in their practice. The questionnaires suggested that the training increased staff’s knowledge of how to manage their stress and to promote their well-being. Staff also stated that they were able to apply the practical strategies provided directly to their practice. One of the main purposes of paper two was to begin the process of change in participants’ perceptions and practice. As a direct result of conducting this piece of research the school of focus have set up a staff well-being forum, open to all staff, to meet on a termly basis to discuss matters relating to staff EHWB and support. The school are also considering setting up staff consultation groups for the teaching assistants in the future, in addition to creating a staff well being notice board, a suggestion box, having a staff well being awareness day, creating a staff well being policy and also providing yearly drop in sessions for staff on stress management. The role of the EP EPs are well placed to offer their services to schools in supporting them with examining professional support systems. EPs are experienced researchers and could conduct small pieces of individual school-based research looking at those areas of the workplace where stress is experienced the most and be able to identify gaps in staff support systems. EPs are equipped with the training and experience to provide bespoke packages of support for individual schools that may include staff training aimed at prioritising staff support and EHWB both in policy and practice. It seems then that EPs are well placed to work in collaboration with schools to develop their staff support systems in this area of staff development and school improvement.

Background and Aims: Mental health difficulties during the perinatal period (pregnancy to 1 year postnatal) are commonplace and are associated with significant impacts for mothers and infants. There is an acknowledgement that more needs to be understood about perinatal mental health, particularly during pregnancy, and that service and treatment options need to be improved. Women's lived experience of difficulties during pregnancy, particularly when experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties, is a little researched area. A need for wider treatment options than medication alone has been highlighted and Peer Support Interventions (PSIs) are often considered within this area. Despite this, there is yet to be a review of their effectiveness to date that also considers women's views of such interventions. Therefore, this thesis aimed to systematically review literature focused on women's views of PSIs and their effectiveness. In addition, it also aimed to explore the lived experience of women with moderate to severe difficulties with their mental health during pregnancy, with a focus on trying to establish any psychological needs/needs they may have. Methods: A mixed methods systematic review was conducted to meet the aims on PSI interventions. This involved searching electronic databases, quality assessment of included papers and summarising results, including a meta-synthesis for qualitative findings. The empirical project, on women's lived experiences, utilised an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to explore the lived experience of women experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties during pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 women recruited via a specialist perinatal mental health service. Results Thirteen studies were included in the review. Results highlighted the heterogeneity of types of PSIs and methodologies employed to evaluate these. Most studies focused on PSIs for the postnatal period and were often aimed at depression. There was a lack of research on PSIs targeted antenatally, or for other types of mental health difficulties. There was tentative evidence for the use of telephone based PSIs in reducing depressive symptomatology postnatally, but less evidence for the use of other types of PSI, or for interventions during pregnancy. The qualitative evidence highlighted the acceptability of PSIs to women and a meta-synthesis of qualitative research identified a number of themes representing women's views of PSIs. From the empirical project, several Superordinate themes were identified: Need for acceptance, Need for awareness, Search for explanations, What helped, Emotional intensity, Societal influences and Service provision. Within these a range of emergent themes were also found. These themes highlighted possible psychological needs and other needs during this time, as well as providing a greater understanding of women's lived experience. Conclusions: There is a need for more research to establish effectiveness of PSIs during pregnancy and of other modes of delivery and to build on existing findings on the effectiveness of telephone based PSIs. Women viewing PSIs as highly acceptable for perinatal mental health difficulties, should cause services to consider their use, or other opportunities for sharing of peer advice/information. Themes identified from the empirical project highlight the need for greater awareness and acceptance of mental health difficulties during pregnancy, as well as the impact of societal influences on women during this time, and the role clinicians and services could play in achieving greater awareness. Small changes within services could help raise awareness levels and help women feel less isolated.

Research suggests that the transition to adolescence and secondary school can be challenging and potentially disruptive to adolescent functioning. Large-scale studies on the effectiveness of peer support programs are currently lacking and those that have been conducted are compromised by methodological problems. The primary purpose of this research was to 1/ identify psychometrically sound measurement instruments for use with secondary school students; 2/ test the impact of the peer support program on espoused program outcomes and other aspects of students' psychological well-being and adjustment to the secondary schooling context; 3/ extend previous research by examining the effects of serving as a peer support leader on leadership ability and other psychological constructs; and 4/ identify students' perceptions of the impact, strengths and weaknesses of the program in order to further strengthen peer support intervention design. The findings have important implications for the provision of programs and techniques employed to address students' problems following the transition to adolescence and secondary school. In particular, they suggest that peer support programs have the potential to make a significant contribution to schools' efforts to orchestrate positive outcomes, not only for early adolescents, but also for older students who implement the program / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Research suggests that the transition to adolescence and secondary school can be challenging and potentially disruptive to adolescent functioning. Large-scale studies on the effectiveness of peer support programs are currently lacking and those that have been conducted are compromised by methodological problems. The primary purpose of this research was to 1/ identify psychometrically sound measurement instruments for use with secondary school students; 2/ test the impact of the peer support program on espoused program outcomes and other aspects of students' psychological well-being and adjustment to the secondary schooling context; 3/ extend previous research by examining the effects of serving as a peer support leader on leadership ability and other psychological constructs; and 4/ identify students' perceptions of the impact, strengths and weaknesses of the program in order to further strengthen peer support intervention design. The findings have important implications for the provision of programs and techniques employed to address students' problems following the transition to adolescence and secondary school. In particular, they suggest that peer support programs have the potential to make a significant contribution to schools' efforts to orchestrate positive outcomes, not only for early adolescents, but also for older students who implement the program / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

As ambulance staff, are there any risks that critical incidents may be experienced as traumatic and affect the individual negatively? What the outcome will be for those affected depends on how well prepared the ambulance staff is. Research shows that peer support is an important feature to reduce the risk of the caregiver to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and how the continued careing becomes. The first support, however, is the most important thing when a carer experiences a critical incident. The aim of this study was to identify how ambulance staff experiences peer support. The methodology of the study was a triangulation, which means that quantitative and qualitative methods are mixed. This methodology makes it possible to study the subject as deeply as possible and still maintain a high validity and reliability. A questionnaire was designd and sent out to the informants. There were 169 persons who were asked to participate. The survery was voluntary and anonymous. A total number of 100 carers with different job titles chose to participate. A majority of the ambulance staff said that they had experienced a critical incident that influenced them at work. The results show that peer support is important to most people and that a majority of those affected chose to talk to their colleague in connection with the incident. When peer support was not used this had to do with personal chemistry and/or that it was not considered necessary. The results show that it would be desirable if a professional kept regular monitoring or reflection with those affected by a critical incident. Not a colleague since personal chemistry may lead to unsatisfactory results.

Correctional practices in New York State largely support a punishment paradigm, a framework in which men and women are incarcerated to suffer punition, with little consideration given to understanding the causes of criminality or means to rehabilitate the offender. The growing awareness of correctional failures have necessitated efforts to re-evaluate the justice system, with no consensus regarding which rehabilitative methods work. Correctional philosophy and practice provides few substantive opportunities for transformative rehabilitation; therapeutic peer programming to address deficiencies in pro-normative socialization and provide peer support are virtually nonexistent. For many formerly incarcerated men who build successful lives for themselves within supportive communities, a common thread winds through their institutional experience: peer mentoring by fellow incarcerated men through informal and peer-created programming. This study examined the role that social support by incarcerated peer mentor groups within New York State prisons played in resocializing fellow inmates towards normative behavior and character development. Through interviews with formerly incarcerated violent offenders, this study explored the interpersonal mechanisms that encouraged and nurtured rehabilitation. Focusing on the specific organizations to which they belonged, a more thorough understanding was provided of both how peer mentor groups work, and also why they work independently of other socializing influences, such as family. Through transcendental phenomenological analysis, this research revealed several themes within peer-mentorship experience, and examined the value of these programs for correctional programming.

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The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between physical and emotional peer victimization, parental and peer support and depressive symptoms. The moderating role of parental and peer support and gender differences in such moderation were the focus of the study in examining the association between peer victimization forms and depressive symptoms. Two hundred and sixty one youths (ages 10-14) completed self report measures of parental and peer support and depressive symptoms and were interviewed about their victimization experiences. Physical victimization rates were higher for boys whereas girls reported higher emotional victimization experiences and higher peer support than boys did. Correlations indicated that the experience of physical and emotional victimization by peer is linked to depressive symptoms. For boys, but not for girls, a significant moderation effect indicated that physical victimization was significantly related to depressive symptoms among youths with low peer support whereas physical victimization was not related to depressive symptoms among youths with high peer support. There were significant main effects of parental and peer support for both genders suggesting the importance of such support against depressive symptoms. The study's findings contribute to the literature regarding peer victimization's effects on mental health by illustrating the beneficial effect of parent and peer support during adolescence. / Master of Science